Series 03 Episode 01

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Series 03 Episode 01

LearnEnglish Podcasts is back! Some things are the same (Tess, Ravi and Carolina) and some things are new, for example the presenters. So whether you're new to LearnEnglish Podcasts or have been listening since Series 1, give it a try!

Preparation

While you listen

Elementary Podcasts are suitable for learners with different levels of English. Here are some ways to make them easier (if you have a lower level of English) or more difficult (if you have a higher level of English). You can choose just one or two of these suggestions - you don't have to do all of them!

Making it easier

Read all the exercises before you listen to the podcast.

Look up the words in the exercises that you don't know in a dictionary.

Play the podcast as many times as you need.

Play each part of the podcast separately.

Read the transcript after you have listened to the podcast.

Making it harder

Listen to the podcast before you read the exercises.

Only play the podcast once before answering the questions.

Play the whole podcast without a break.

Don't read the transcript.

Now, listen to the podcast and do the exercises on the following tabs.

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Activity 3

Activity 4

Ravi explained how to cook fish and chips; he gave the recipe for them. Leave a comment below with a recipe that you know well. We'll talk about our favourites next episode!

Transcript

Rob and Adam – Welcome back!

Adam: Hello and welcome to the all new Learn English podcast from the British Council. My name’s Adam.

Rob: And I’m Rob. In just a moment you’ll hear from Tess and Ravi, but first I’ll tell you something about the new podcasts. We’ve changed the way we give the podcasts to you and there are two important things. Firstly, the podcasts are shorter, but there are more of them. We’re going to have a podcast every two weeks. Secondly, there are more ways for you to get in touch with us and we can answer your questions or your comments. If you have a question about English or about the podcast or about Tess and Ravi, then send it to us. Here’s how you can do it.

Adam: You can leave a comment on LearnEnglish at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish. You can follow us on Facebook – look for Elementary podcasts. And you can follow Tess and Ravi on Twitter – they’re tessandravi. Ask us a question or tell us what you think and we can answer it in the next podcast.

Rob: Now, we’re new presenters, so where are Tess and Ravi? Well, we’ve given them something new to do. In this series of podcasts Tess and Ravi have a project and we hope they’ll help you learn.

Adam: Now, when you think about Britain, what do you think about? Do you think about big red buses? Cups of tea? Something else? We asked that question to hundreds of our listeners around the world – what do you think about when you think about Britain? And Tess and Ravi have the answers. They’re going to help you find out more about some of the most British things you can think of. So, let’s find out what the topic is this week.

Tess and Ravi

Ravi: Hi everyone, I’m Ravi.

Tess: And I’m Tess.

Ravi: And our job is to tell you about some of the things you think are typically British. In this series we’ll tell you about British weather, the Royal Family, British pets… lots of ‘typical’ British things. But today we’re going to tell you about a very famous British food – a dish that lots of people think is the typical British thing to eat. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s fish and chips.

Tess: Mmm, nice. It’s true that lots of people think that fish and chips is what British people eat all the time. My Spanish friends really wanted to try fish and chips when they came to visit. So, OK then Ravi – tell us what you’ve learnt.

Ravi: Well, first of all, I’ll say a little bit about what fish and chips are – people don’t always know. It’s a piece of fish, covered in batter and deep fried.

Tess: Can you tell us what batter is?

Ravi: It’s a mixture of flour and water, usually. You cover the fish...

Tess: What kind of fish is it?

Ravi: Good question. It can be different kinds of fish but the most popular are cod and haddock – two fish that were very common in the sea around Britain.

Tess: Are they not so common now?

Ravi: No, they aren’t – but I’ll talk about that in a minute. So, you cover the fish in batter and then you deep fry it – that means you cook it in a deep pan of very hot oil, vegetable oil usually. You cook the chips the same way, you deep fry the potatoes in very hot oil.

Tess: And chips are chips, aren’t they? Americans call them ‘fries’ or ‘French fries’ but we call them chips.

Ravi: I think chips are sort of bigger and thicker than French fries but yes, you’re right. Anyway, you deep fry the fish and the chips, then you serve them with salt and vinegar.

Tess: Ugh, I hate vinegar.

Ravi: When I was a kid, fish and chips would always be served in newspaper. They wrapped your fish and chips up in a sheet of old newspaper, but they don’t do that any more. They use special paper, not newspaper.

Tess: Yeah, I remember the newspaper. But, you know what, I hardly ever eat fish and chips any more. All that oil and deep frying, it’s not very healthy, is it?

Ravi: It’s not, no. But once every now and then, Tess, it’s OK to eat unhealthy things, you know.

Tess: How often do you eat fish and chips, then?

Ravi: Well, I found some information about this. Nowadays, fifty per cent of British people say they eat fish and chips once a month and fourteen per cent say they eat them once a week. I’d say I’m about once a month.

Tess: I’d say about once a year, for me. Are the numbers of people eating fish and chips going down? As I say, it’s not very healthy and people are more concerned about healthy eating these days.

Ravi: People are more concerned about healthy eating but the British still eat a lot of fish and chips. There are more than ten thousand fish and chip shops in the country and they sold more than two hundred and fifty thousand meals last year. One thing is, having fish and chips is cheaper than going to a restaurant so sales are even going up when people haven’t got a lot of money to spend on restaurant meals.

Tess: What about the fish, though? You said there weren’t so many fish any more.

Ravi: That’s right. Cod, the most popular fish for making fish and chips, is not as common in the sea around Britain any more – numbers have really gone down. And if the numbers go down, the price goes up, so fish and chip shops now sell lots of other kinds of fish as well – but lots of people think they’re not as nice… Do you know, Tess, I could talk about this for hours – I’ve not even mentioned the history of fish and chips yet, but we’re running out of time. Shall we go and get some fish and chips?

Tess: OK, then, let’s go.

Rob and Adam

Adam: That talk about fish and chips earlier has made me really hungry. How often do you eat fish and chips?

Rob: As often as I can, but not as often as when I was young.

Adam: Mmm. Right, if you’ve listened to the LearnEnglish podcast before, you might remember Tom the Teacher. Tom talked about the English you heard in the podcast. Tom’s not around this time – he’s got a job teaching in China – but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about what you heard. Listen to this:

Ravi: So, you cover the fish in batter and then you deep fry it – that means you cook it in a deep pan of very hot oil – vegetable oil usually. You cook the chips the same way – you deep fry the potatoes in very hot oil.

Rob: Ravi talked about how to cook fish and chips. He said you ‘cover the fish in batter’ and you ‘deep fry it’. Frying is a way of cooking something in oil – olive oil, vegetable oil or another kind of oil. What other ways of cooking are there?

Adam: Well, you can boil things – vegetables usually – in hot water. Errr… You can grill things. Umm… and you can bake things, in an oven. And how about the language of preparing food?

Rob: You can chop meat or vegetables, slice things, erm... grate things like cheese. We’ll put a list on the website for you. And you’ll find some other activities to help you learn and a transcript of what Tess and Ravi said.

Adam: I’ll tell you what would be great though. Ravi told you how to cook fish and chips – the instructions on how to cook something are a recipe – and it would be great to hear some recipes from you. If you send them to us we can put them on LearnEnglish and on Tess and Ravi’s Facebook page. Remember the ways you can get in touch with us?

Rob: On LearnEnglish, that’s www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish. On Twitter - TessandRavi – or on Facebook – we’re Elementary podcasts on Facebook. Just time now to look at a couple of comments from LearnEnglish and the Facebook page. Khalid Al Busaidi said ‘I miss Tess and Ravi so much’ – well, I hope you’re happy you’ve got them back, Khalid – and lots of you saying you want to improve your English – Jinhee, Manjit, Abner – lots of you. Well, we’re here to help and I hope we’ll speak to you next week – we’d love to hear from you. That’s all for now.

preparation
1. Remove them dams more features of the veal as are the osa, the stripe, them ribs, the garza, them breasts, them loins, them pulp black, among others.
2. Prepare the fire ahead with the aim of having more hot embers fire.
3. Sasone each of these dams with salt and spices and place it in a hail of wood or iron.
4. Place meat (the hail) over low heat, separate each other without stoking the fire does not burn or seize the meat.
5. Bathe the meat with beer and voleteelas so it is fully cooked
6. Remove the mamona from fire and is ready to serve the dishes.
The eastern plains of Colombia, the preparation of the mamona is itself a party. You can accompany it with cassava, plantain or potato.

Hello, My name is Juan david, i live in colombia and my favorite food is the bandeja paisa, in my country is a special typical food,this have beans, meat,rice, eggs, banana, and others ingredients, is a delicious food.

good morning
i want to write about a delicious typical colombian dessert this recipe have milk and a mix that is named natilla is so easy to do, it has a consistency similar to flan dessert and his flavor is like a sweet milk, tipically we do this for christmas.

I will talk a typical Colombian dish and one of my favorites, meat roast or as it is popularly called mamona, is a dish typical of the plain, that is, departments like meta, arauca, vichada, guaviare, among others. This dish brings cassava, potato salt and pepper.

Hi! A simple recipe which is traditional in the south of Brazil is called "Churrasco", also called as the "Brazilian Barbecue".
The First thing is choose the correct meat for the "Churrasco". Usually we choose a big piece of rip (the fatter the better haha) or a Filet Steak. Then, temper it with corse salt and put it on a stick. Prepare the fire using lamb or charcoal and take the meat for one/ one and a half hour, turning when necessary.
The best way to enjoy the time untill it is read, is drinking a "capirinha". A drink made of lemon, vodka, sugar and ice!

hello everybody..
I just want to thank you for your effort to help us learning English .. this is my first time to register and use your website and I hope it will be helpful for me .. about cooking I will write to you later after revising the new words related to a recipe

Hi, I would like to write a recepie for chocholate which is good for loosing weight. You need coco oil, cocoa, unsalted peanuts, pinch of salt and one full spoon of honey. First, you have to dissolve coco oil and put in cocoa, peanuts and salt. also you can give a litlle spoon of guarana powder. Mixing altogether and put on bake-paper. Than put on the chocholate honey and cool in freezer for 5 minutes. Eat during all day.